Surprise! She's having a baby?
by SuGaRnSpIcE4222
Summary: Walker's young niece takes on the hardest task of her lifebecoming a mother! And in the process, sets out to help ease her Uncle, Aunt, and Syd and Gage, ease their fear of pregnancies and parenthood. Rated T for adolescent pregnancy.
1. Chapter 1: Admission

Yeah, well, unfortunately for me I don't own any of the original characters on Walker, Texas Ranger. I mean, if I did, I'd be loaded, right? Sadly, still have to work to eat…. sigh

Setting/Background: _Faith is Walker's niece, who lives with Walker's drug addict sister, Ann. Through feverous attempts at trying to help Ann 'clean up' her act, Walker and the gang have watched Faith grow from a stubby girl, unsure of herself and the world, to a wonderful woman whose theory in life was "Being normal is vastly overrated". Faith is 20 now and has just graduated from high school and moved on to the college life. Things take an interesting twist in her life, however, while she tries to manage pregnancy, school, and an ill mother, all while sharing (to the best of her abilities) this experience with her loved ones, in hopes of easing some of their fears on pregnancy and parenthood, and trying to cope with it herself! _

_Walker and Alex are married here. Syd and Gage are together, and Trivette and Erika is an item. CD has yet to pass on. _

The afternoon started out normal enough; The Ranger gang and friends met at their usual spot at CD's to enjoy lunch with one another. This was usually the time when Walker, Trivette, Syd, and Gage piped in about their current and (usually) unusual cases, as well.

Today, however, was different. Alex and Walker had been up late the night before, fiddling with the idea of having kids, and were reasonably tired, Syd and Gage had stayed late to "work on a case", Trivette had somehow been roped into the topic of marriage with Erika (again), and Faith, usually thunderous pungent with ideas and oddities that only she understood, sat quietly in her seat abnormally nibbling on a piece of fruit CD had strewn in front of her.

"Well aren't we just the dullest bunch of creatures on this side of the Mississippi River?" CD perched himself behind the bar, making use of his washcloth as he dried some clean glasses.

"Sorry CD, it's just been a long night" Walker said, eyeing the bunch, "a VERY long night"

"Well what can I get ya'll for lunch?" CD asked, already dishing out a bowl of Chili. That's what they always wanted, matter-a-factly, that's what _everyone_ wanted when they ate at CD's bar and grille-well, usually, anyways. He pushed the individual bowls in front of each of his friends, making sure to grab Faith's attention as he did so. Something about her today concerned the gentle man, and told him something was off with her.

"None for me today, CD, but thanks" Faith said, followed by a long yawn.

"How about some coffee then?"

"No thanks, not today" Again, shot down.

"You sure darlin', you're lookin' awfully pale today…"

"CD I said no" The young girl snapped. She felt bad- he'd only been trying to help her and she knew that. "I'm sorry CD, I'm just not feeling so well this morning" She looked apologetically at him, and as always, he forgave her. Women, after all, he thought, did get in those crazy moods.

Walker looked up in a concerned manner when she mentioned not feeling well. Throughout their entire history (which happened to be the day of birth, 18 years and some odd months ago) he'd never known Faith to be the kind to get sick. She generally ended up taking care of him when he contracted some god-forsaken flu. And the only other time she acted like this was when Ann was going downhill, yet again, with her drug problems.

"You okay?" He mouthed.

"I'm fi-" She began to mouth back, but the strong scent of CD's famous chili had gotten to her. Before finishing, she holstered herself off the bar stool and dashed into the lady's room, finding an empty stall in which to hide in while she heaved up the remnants of the previous night's dinner.

………… ……………. ………………. ……………… ………..

The day had gone by slowly. Faith laid bed the majority of the day, still feeling the wicked effects of morning sickness. Her uncle and aunt had both called to check on her, as well as Trivette, and CD, but she couldn't muster the strength to reach over and answer the phone- let alone carry on a conversation.

She was pregnant, and she knew it. She'd known it for a couple of months now, but still couldn't seem to gather the nerve to tell her family. Or maybe it wasn't her family she was afraid of; maybe, just maybe, she was scared reality would set in if she told them- that if and when she did tell her family, the hard truths of being pregnant and raising a baby would finally settle in. It wasn't being a mother that scared her so much; she knew that no matter what happened, she would be good at it (after all, hadn't she raised her mom?), it was simply the realism that the baby would require things, and being so young and in college, life would certainly be a struggle, both financially and physically, for young Faith Jones-Walker.

Trying her best, she holstered herself off the messy bed, and stood to look in the mirror. She would tell her family tonight. She was two and a half months along, and would be getting big, and soon enough they'd start to notice anyways. Collecting the loose strands of hair in her tiny fingers, she reached for a hair tie, with which she put her hair into a pony tail.

"What to wear" She spoke aloud to no one in particular as she fumbled with the different outfits that present themselves at her in her closet. The easiest to eliminate of her options were those form fitting outfits because she no longer could say she had a form; she was, in essence, big busted (attributed to mother nature and her idea of nursing), and slowly but surely eating herself out of the majority of her jeans and other nice pants.

Settling with a baggy black sweater and a pair of loose khaki pants, she dressed and headed for the front door, quickly grabbing her keys and purse for the ride to CD's.

………………….. ………………….. …………………….. ……………………….

"So anyone heard of that new roadside stalker?" Gage asked, biting into a burger.

"You mean the one who's been pullin' men out of their trucks, beating them pretty badly and then leaving them for dead?" Walker said, looking up from his newspaper.

"Yeah that's the one"

"What about him?" Trivette looked quizzical, at best.

"Nothing, just wondered if you'd heard about him is all." Gage never did know how to tell a story.

Faith walked in at that moment, and instead of sitting down and accepting dinner like she generally did, she remained standing, an unwavering look on her face; she was going to tell her family and friends of her pregnancy, and now.

"What's wrong, darlin'? Are you depressed?" CD asked. He was amazed at how she turned down his good cookin' two times in a row, which couldn't denote anything good.

"There's nothing wrong with me emotionally, and in a sense, nothing physically" Faith paused.

"In a sense?" Alex looked up from her dinner, a tad more intrigued and concerned with the matter at hand now.

"I'm pregnant" Faith spit out, gently rubbing her stomach. She expected yelling, she expected coughing or even seizing, but what she got blew her away; they laughed… they laughed in disbelief.

"I'm not kidding" Faith said, gently lifting her uncle's hand and situating it on her fairly swollen stomach.

"Oh my god" Walker said, eyes wide, "She's not kidding" The laughter stopped, and quickly bits of protest flew from either side of the table.

"You're too young" Trivette said, disappointedly.

"How will you ever afford a child, Sweetie?" Alex demanded, "You're barely on your feet now" Alex made sure to point out the obvious.

"Come on, Faith, you're younger than us and we're not even thinking of kids." Reasoning wasn't one of Sydney Cooke's strong points

"Think this through, Faith" CD warned. He of all people had seen too many young girls suffer with adolescent parenthood.

Walker, however, wasn't thinking on the negative effects a pregnancy could have on his niece's future; no, he was too busy worrying for her health. He had seen the difficulty Ann had when she carried Faith, and learned that it could be hereditary. Since her preteen years, Cordell had heard doctor after doctor suggest Faith not have any children of her own, and here she was about to take on the world.

"And what about your health, Faith?" There was a gentle, concerned demeanor about her uncle, one that she connected with.

"I'm about two and a half months along, and the doctor is watching me closely. I'm sorry you all feel this is a mistake, and I'm sorry I kept this from you all for so long, but I'm going to have this baby, and it will be loved."

"Then we'll support you" Walker added, sharing a 'look' that only he and his niece seemed to understand.

"That's all I can ask" Faith said, taking her seat at the 'family table'. "So, anyone got any pickles?" She looked around the room with anticipation, searching effervescently for what she craved for three days in a row.


	2. Chapter 2: Realization

Walker and Alex left CD's that night in silence. It was either that neither could believe or wanted to believe in the day's events that caused such hush.

In bed, when Walker usually rolled over to talk to Alex about menial stuff, he remained quiet, stiff. He starred up at the ceiling, counting the times the fan circled before his attention completely drifted off to his niece.

In his mind now, she was 4 again, and huddled into a ball on the bedroom floor. The neighbors had just called him due to an escalating argument That Ann, and James, Faith's father, were having.

"_There's a little girl in there, ya know" _ The neighbors voice rang so clearly in his mind that if he hadn't known better, he'd have said she was still standing next to him.

"_Thank you ma'am"_ Had been his reply, as he opened the door to see Faith huddled and scared of her own parents. When they argued, they sure did argue.

Faith was now 8 in his mind, and he was, yet again, called in as reinforcement to his sister and brother-in-law's excessive fighting. He walked in, expecting to find Faith hiding in one of the various corners of the house, only she wasn't. He remembered finding her in her bed, sound asleep. It was the first argument that hadn't awakened her, and though good as it may have been she was getting sleep, it also meant she was becoming accustomed to her parents' fighting; something which, in Walker's eyes, was not healthy for an 8 year old girl.

"_You have to stop this, Ann"_ He had warned. _"She's not going to be 8 years old forever" _

"_What's that supposed to mean?!" _Walker could still feel the fire from his sister's tone that night.

"_It means that she's going to grow up and run. Now look, Alex and I talked it over and we want Faith to come live with us. It's a healthier environment" _

"_Over my dead body" _Those were the final words Ann spoke to him before getting up and storming out.

At 12, Faith scored the winning goal on her soccer team, and at 13 she made the winning shot on her school's basketball team.

At 14 she joined the swim team, and at 15 she joined Student Government, which was only because she'd taken up boys as a hobby and fell for the president.

At 16 and 17 she got her first job, bought her first car, and decided that with her life, she wanted, for some unearthly reason, to work with homicide cases. Walker understood why HE wanted to work with psychos, but why his niece decided to try tracking down serial killers was far beyond his comprehension.

At 18 she graduated high school as valedictorian, and held a position at the state university.

Life was traveling full speed ahead for Faith, but Walker, Alex, and their friends never missed a moment though. They were always on the sidelines, cheering her on and showing support. After all, that's what family did, right?

And now she was 20, and by 21 she would have a child of her own to share with them, and they would once again have someone to stand on the sidelines and root for. He couldn't understand why the initial thought of Faith being a mother scared him; sure, she would struggle financially, but he knew now that she was capable of anything, and while it would be hard, she would make a fine mother.

……….. …………… …………….. ……………… ……………….. ………………. ..

The next morning presented itself with as much troubles concerning morning sickness as did the last. From the bathroom, the scent of her last dinner wafted into her room (thanks to her 5 am hurling,) and disconcerted her stomach once again.

Hastily, she bounced to her feet and ran into the bathroom. Head in toilet, all of what she had left in her stomach rushed to the surface and relieved her.

She had been so busy on her date with the toilet that she almost didn't hear her aunt and uncle walk in. "Faith?" Alex looked around, a bit appalled at the mess she saw; Faith had always been a clean fanatic, so seeing a mess couldn't have meant anything good came from the early stages of pregnancy.

"I'll be out in a minute" Faith closed her bedroom door and decided upon getting dressed. With the closet doors open, she poked around to find something cute and comfortable to wear and settled on a loose fitting pair of jeans and a cute, red maternity top she'd gotten from Wal-Mart the other day. Combing her hair back, she left it to dangle loosely on her shoulder and walked out. Her "pregnancy" belly was more obvious to the naked eye now, and she looked rather tired.

"We brought some breakfast for you" His hand reached over and handed her a brown paper bag. Under normal circumstances, she would have been grateful, even elated, but now, all she could do force a smile and try not to gag at the smell of the contents.

"Thanks but I just" Pause as she looked at her watch, it was 9 a.m., "spent the last four hours getting rid of last nights dinner. I'll maybe save this for later." She wrapped the food up in some plastic wrap and stuffed it in her refrigerator, hoping the barrier between her and the inside of the refrigerator could sustain the scent of the food.

Her aunt was staring at her stomach, and by the looks of it was aware of the staring issue. "Its okay" Faith said, "you can touch". All who knew by now that she was pregnant made the quick habit of patting her stomach daily, so she was by far used to the idea.

Alex, on the other hand, couldn't, for the life of her, understand why the stomach amazed her. Why she _needed_ to touch it. 'I guess' she thought, 'it's because I've watched her grow and learn. She's related, she's close, not like all the other times.'

She placed her cool hand amongst the tiny, but visible bump and smiled. "Does it hurt?" 'What kind of question is that?!' she thought to herself, feeling entirely stupid.

Faith just smiled though. "Not really. I mean, my ego does because I've gained weight, but that's about it. Actually, it doesn't really feel like anything unusual, almost like nothings there. But then there's this other part of me that knows a life is forming inside of me, and instead of hurting or scaring me, it excites me, it makes me feel like I'm finally doing something that can only be perceived of as right."

Alex smiled, longing to feel that emotion. "Are you scared?"

"Like hell" It was a simple reply to a simple question, though this was the first time she'd ever admitted to being scared about the whole thing. "I mean, once this baby's here, there'll be no more practice sessions….But being scared doesn't mean it's not happening, and the thing to remember is that you can overcome that fear; that once that baby's in your arms he or she is yours forever, and nobody can change that. All you can do is try your best and give it as much love as possible and there's no way to fail at that"

"How did you get to be so smart?"

"Oprah, I think" She winked, turning to grab her purse. "Now, for the better part of the day I have to sit in a classroom, so will you guys lock up when you leave please?"

"Of course; have a good day in class sweetie" Alex closed and locked the door behind her niece. Unlike her and Walker, Faith looked at this whole pregnancy deal a completely different, more positive way. It wasn't, she realized, something to be afraid of. And it wasn't something that would take away from anyone's life; it simply was an addition to what was already there. And now, more than ever, her biological clock too began ticking.


	3. Chapter 3: Prenatal Lessons

Walker watched as the fan in the doctor's office spun around repeatedly, making a pattern out of the roof. He couldn't believe his wife and niece had talked him into going to Faith's prenatal visit, yet here he was, sitting next to Faith who was now 5 months along. Only four more short months and the baby would be with them and there would be no more tortuous visits to female and baby doctors.

"Ms. Walker?" The nurse stood stereotypically in the door-frame leading to the back, holding her clipboard close to her chest.

"Right here" Faith said, trying to push herself up. Moving and lifting were no longer an easy task for her because of her large, swollen baby bump.

"Would you like to some help?" Walker generously extended his hand and hoisted his niece to her feet.

"Thanks" Faith replied sheepishly.

-----------------

Walker waited outside the door as Faith changed into a long gown in order for the doctor to get a better look at Faith and the baby.

"You done yet?" Walker said impatiently. Nurses and doctors tended to make him nervous; of course, he'd never let this on to Trivette. No, torturing Trivette by making needles and doctors seem harsher than they really were was way more fun to him.

"Yeah you can come in now" Faith said, sitting calmly on the exam table. She held a magazine gently upright on her belly, flipping through the pages so the pictures would keep her occupied.

"Hey" She said, coming up to something in her magazine. "Yeah?" Walker replied, looking up concernedly. She'd seemed to eager, so energetic, as if something was wrong.

"Did you know a pig's orgy lasts 30 minutes?" She said.

"Umm…" Walker began.

"I wish I was a pig" she mumbled; being pregnant and single meant you were deprived of sex, which Walker hated to admit that Faith felt sour about.

"And did you know that a turtle breathes through it's butt? Man and you thought you had bad breath" She said, continuing the article of 50 random facts.

Walker laughed at her childish demeanor. Here she was about to endure that certain kind of pain that only females could explain, and she was sitting there all calm and suave, reading him 50 facts that he probably could have lived his entire life without having to know.

"She's gunna be alright" He said to himself, sighing almost in relief. 'I'll never be entirely alright', he thought to himself. 'After all, my niece, this young woman that I raised, is going to be a young mother; a single mother.' Being a Ranger meant he'd seen the worst of the worst and seeing the worst of the worst meant things stuck to your memory like glue, haunting you no matter what.

"Uncle Walker?" Faith said, eyeing him suspiciously. "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing, Faith. I'm just tired" He yawned, making the story seem more believable. He did have to admit that the yawn wasn't entirely fake, though. He and Alex had spent long hours throughout the night for many nights discussing the option of having children and whether or not that was a wise choice in their relationship.

"You know you can talk to me" Faith began, "I might actually be able to help. This whole pregnancy thing has made me a lot wiser than I really am."

"Its just issues between your aunt and I" Walker started.

Faith smiled sweetly at her uncle. She knew on instinct exactly what he meant by the "issues" him and her aunt had been up all night discussing. She took small breaths, thinking of the words to say to him.

Taking his hand into her neatly manicured one, she set his hand on her stomach. Gentle kicks and movements could be felt from under her skin. It was the most amazing thing Walker had ever felt in his entire life and looked up, smiling at his niece, grateful she had shared this moment with him. He was the only other person who'd ever felt the life inside of her moving; he was as sure of this as he was of the baby's near existence into their world.

"This seems like the scariest thing in the world. It's the most frightening to think of, and many nights I spend lying awake in bed, wondering, hoping that I'll be a good mother. And then I feel him move and I'm sure as the sun shines that there is nothing to be scared of" Faith said, lovingly…knowingly.

Walker smiled, understanding in full what she was saying. "Thank you" He replied. "For sharing this with me."

"There is no one better" She had a smile on her face as the doctor walked in, ready to begin the appointment.


End file.
